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A blog dedicated to the archaeology of Jess Franco's films and discussion of cult, arthouse, classic, genre and sometimes mainstream films from around the world. Send your reviews to the new email posted below and I will post them or comment below each blog. BLOG CREATED, MODERATED AND EDITED BY ROBERT MONELL: Est. July 2006. The written content of all posts (excepting quotes from reviews, books, other publications) COPYRIGHT ROBERT MONELL and the authors.CONTACT: renegovar@yahoo.comArt Direction/Blog Design: Kimberly Lindbergs

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WATCH THE ORIGINAL SCI-FI HORROR WEB SERIES RETURN OF THE BLOODSUCKING NAZI ZOMBIES! on NECRONOMICON OF THE LIVING DEAD!

CINEMADROME is an offshoot of this blog: hosted by yuku for further public discussions of Jess Franco films, European Trash Cinema, Giallo films, Fantastique, Horror cinema from around the world, B movies, International Arthouse cinema, Expanded cinema, Hollywood classics, new and vintage DVD reviews, my online cinema diary, place for rants and general reflections on movies, culture, Chat Topics and much more...Special illustrated essays, videos, images & new DVD/ VIDEO reviews will be added regularly regarding films from all genres.

Other Directors

28 July, 2014

This 1986 hardcore sex comedy features Lina Romay and Antonio Mayans, credited as Lulu Lavenre and Tony Proculi [more on that beard later], as an outrageously flamboyant couple, she's a loud dresser, he's a screaming queen, who check into the no-tell Hotel Venus for some fun and games in which several other couples join. The character bits are amusing and provide some satirical comic relief from the many gynecological close ups of penetration, oral sex, female and male genitalia.

The Hotel Venus could be a wink at Wagner's VENUSBURG but most probably was a low rent, convenient, photogenic location which Jess roped into hosting the production, or maybe just shot it in secret, on the fly. Note how the facade of the hotel is used as a formal element and introduces the location of the action in the very first image, another example of the director's minimalist expertise.

LAS CHUPONAS, TELEPORNO, BRAGUETA STORY, are other rarely seen JF hardcores from the same year. Franco also worked on several uncompleted projects that year, along with the still unreleased SIDA, LA PESTE DEL SIGLO XX, the latter co produced by Golden Films Internacional and Eurocine.

24 July, 2014

I purchased this hardbox clamshell prerecord from MILLION DOLLAR VIDEO CORP. in Los Angeles in 1994.

This delirious, highly stylized 1982 remake of NIGHTMARE COME AT NIGHT remains one of my favorite Jess Franco films from his visually striking Golden Films Internacional period. Lina Romay plays the role of the victim of a criminal plot engineered by a phony nightclub hypnotist (Daniel Katz, dubbed by Franco regular Antonio Mayans). The female lead in the original was memorably played by Diana Lorys (GRITOS EN LA NOCHE, RESEDENICA PARA ESPIAS, THE BLOODY JUDGE). This version has a rather more upbeat ending and is done in a totally different visual style, emphasizing saturated tropical colors and Dutch camera angles, as illustrated in the caps.
Drug party: Tilt Camera.

[From the Video Box copy on the back cover: "A beautiful who captivates the minds of men. A businessman whose wife in constantly complaining about how little time he dedicates to her. A professional photographer who will do anything for money. These are the elements for a movie in which sex and erotism {sic} are only surpassed by the tension and horror of a crime." I guess this kind of sums up the plot and characters. I'm not sure if the "beautiful" woman is meant to be Lina Romay or Carmen Carrion, the latter a villainous in the mystery story. The plot is basically the same of NIGHTMARES COME AT NIGHT, with the exception of the "happier" ending, which is boosted by the sudden appearance of Jess Franco himself, as the heroine's therapist, who shows up with a small army of heavily armed police.

Some of the music is recycled from Daniel White's trademark score for LA COMTESSE NOIRE (1973) aka FEMALE VAMPIRE. NIGHTMARES COME AT NIGHT may have stronger lead performances by Paul Muller and Ms. Loryr, and a more compelling score by the great Bruno Nicolai (which maybe my personal favorite of this scores for Jess Franco) but MIL SEXOS.... has an arrested visual style of its own which completely immerses the viewer into the disordered mind of Irina, who shares the name the is played by the same actress who portrayed the title character in LA COMTESSE NOIRE. This film illustrates that while Jess Franco may have a tendency to tell the same stories over and over, he manages each time time he repeats them to conduct fascinating variations in style, tone and atmosphere.

A good quality version can be found on Youtube, albeit in Spanish language only. When I interviewed Jess Franco about this film in 2004, he called it one of his "black" films ie Film Noir, and expressed surprise that I singled it out for praise.

This title really needs a HD release with English language options. More caps, taken from the MILLION DOLLAR VIDEO Spanish language VHS, and comments will follow.

10 July, 2014

New contest!!! We're thrilled to announce our partnership with Westgate Gallery,
a new poster shop specializing in the horror and exploitation films we
love. You can get 15% off 1-2 items and 20% off 3 or more by mentioning
Severin when you order through them. You can follow them on here or on
Twitter (@westgateposters), and they have a wide range of international
posters to browse on their site (http://westgategallery.com/).
To help us celebrate this weeks blu-ray release of BLOODY MOON, they're
giving away the original Spanish poster for the film, sized 27 x 39.
Share this post to be entered. The contest closes at 4PM tomorrow, so
don't miss your chance to win this amazing piece of horror history!!!

08 July, 2014

BLOODY MOON Blu-ray is now available!

Today is the official street date for this new Blu-ray upgrade of this
notorious Jess Franco gore epic and it's highly recommended. You can
almost see the mountains on the moon which the director's compulsive
zoom lens often closes in on.

Jess Franco's 1981 contribution to the slasher genre was a German
financed production, lensed in Alicante, Spain. It looks better than
ever on this new Blu-ray edition from Severin Films. A stunning
BD presentation which reinvents Jess Franco's Spanish lensed slasher
epic as a series of candy colored gore tableaux; the detail, definition,
sharpness and color are just dazzling. The clarity of each and every
image is razor sharp and the luminosity it a 100% improvement over the
previous DVD presentation.

International Boarding School of Languages, Alicante: During a dance at
the language school for young women the facially deformed Miguel
(Alexander Waechter) steals a Mickey Mouse mask and stalks an attractive
student, brutally stabbing her to death in bungalow #13 to stop her
horrified screams when she discovers his grotesque features. Several
years later Dr. Domingo Aunous (another cameo by Uncle Jess) releases
Miguel from psychiatric confinement into the care of his sister Manuela
(Nadja Gerganhoff), the lover of Alvaro, the language school's director
who is trying to cover up his financial mismanagement. The couple are
mistrusted by the elderly Countess, who controls the family fortune and
intends to disinherit niece Manuela, leaving Miguel set to inherit the
Countess' considerable estate.

But Miguel will become a key
suspect when several of the new batch of female students are found
murdered in cursed bungalow #13. Is this all a plot by Manuela and
Alvaro to set up Miguel? You bet. In the meantime the frantic
imagination of the recently arrived Angela (Olivia Pascal), looking more
like a runway model than a student, becomes overstimulated as the
killer begins to leave body parts in her room like ritual offerings.

The Jess Franco circular saw massacre....

The original German title card...

The
1080p full HD resolution presentation of this German LISA-RAPID-METRO
Film Production emphasizes more than any previous release Jess Franco's
ability to make a slick, seamless mainstream thriller very much in the
style of John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN and the thrillers of Brian De
Palma, and both directors are directly quoted in Franco's crafty, often
delirious mise-en-scene. The opening murder, presented through the eyes
of the killer's "party" mask, in this case Mickey Mouse, is the most
obvious example. The glossy, red, white and blue color design is more
prominent than ever now, perhaps an indication that the director was
going "the American way" while recalling the American flag color scheme
of De Palma's 1981 BLOW OUT. Images from the notorious head severing by
circular saw sequence can also be seen in Amoldovar's MATADOR.

Special
features include the documentary interview Franco Moon (18m 51s),
directed by David Gregory and the original theatrical trailer (1m 39s),
the latter featuring some alternate English language dubbing. Franco
obviously was displeased with many aspects of this project, on which he
worked as a gun for hire on a script concocted by the producer, Erich
Tomek.He also discusses his displeasure with the Gerhard Heinz
disco-dancing score, remembering he wanted to use the music of Pink
Floyd. It's a revealing interview in that it shows how he was able to
operate both as a hack and a [frustrated] auteur. Notice the very last
image, the clasped hands of the incestuous siblings, which the title
Directed by Jess Franco is printed over. A final indication that the
director's intended focus is on the twisted love story which lies
underneath the generic slasher elements

Miguel, on the other side of the mirror, a recurring image in the films of Jess Franco.

Overall
this is an impressive upgrade for this uncharacteristic entry in the
Jess Franco canon. This is a clean, luminous, crystal clear transfer
from elements which do not evidence any noticeable wear and tear. A few
seconds of blood spattered gore have been included from inferior
elements, in snippets often missing from other video versions. This
version is complete. BLOODY MOON was a video nasty and banned in the UK.

81m/Color/19811.78:1English MONO Audio [my only reservation is a wish that the German language track could have been included]